Stories of Suburbia
by The Heck
Summary: When a young, animal joins the Over the hedge family how will they deal with this new face and how will he deal with them. Oh and he happens to hate humans.
1. Chapter 1: Awkward entrance

Disclaimer: I do not own any character in this story except my OC

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There's no food left... none.

He'd tried to find something... anything to eat, but there was nothing. The only reason the small animal managed to stay alive was asking for food from a large bear that lived in a cave near a road. The last time he had received food the bear named Vincent demanded that he stop begging him for food. But the small creature understood, Vincent was a bear and needed much more food than a fox like him. The fox remembered when Vincent told him about that raccoon that had tricked him and got him trouble with the humans.

The fox growled at the thought of humans, they only care about their selfish needs and want. All they do in find a nice, peaceful forest area, cut down all of the trees in a 20 mile radius killing or dislocating any animal that lives there. They then build these structures and go about their lives as if nothing happened. Because of them he couldn't keep up my vegan way of life and had to go hunting, but found nothing.

As the fox sat by the side of a road he looked up through the night at Vincent's cave. '_I could take some...'_ But he thought again _'no I couldn't do that to Vincent, after everything he's done for me' _The fox, Jace, turned his head to look at the human structures '_Perhaps I could scavenger for food or something.'_

Crash!

Jace jumped at the sound of the thunder. He looked up in time for the first drops of rain to fall on his face. Jace heaved a sigh, took one last look at Vincent's cave and started for the houses with slight optimism, or he was just hungry. As he descended down into the valley he realised that the hill was much steeper than he had thought and soon he was stumbling down the hill, very loudly. He was going so fast that when he arrived at the first backyard fence he crashed right through it. He lay on the floor dazed, struggling to regain his senses

"Oh my god!"

"Holy Crap!"

"AAAAAHH!"

Jace slowly stood up still looking at the ground as he heard the humans freak out.

"Honey, get it, GET IT!'' screeched a loud female voice. Jace quickly lifted his head in time for a broom to whack him in his left flank. He quickly jetted past the man who had hit him and ran to the front yard.

"Someone call animal control!" yelled the same female voice. Jace took off weaving from the sidewalk to the street in a random pattern trying to confuse the humans. After running for a while he saw a hedge. Without thinking he turned his body and ran to the leaves. '_ Man...'_thought the exhausted fox as he leaned on a tree to rest. But as he did he felt a sharp stabbing pain. "What the... "said the confused fox when he turned around and saw that there was blood on the tree. He looked down at his body to see dozens of small cuts on his body. Before Jace could react he went light headed due to hunger and fell to the grassy floor of this small forest.

Before passing out the fox cried out in a hoarse whisper "Help...."

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"Man, this is what life is about." said the sleek quick-thinking raccoon as he relaxed on a tree branch eating a late night snack of Twinkies and coke. It had been 4 days since the raccoon RJ, had officially joined his new family of animals. Although he had lied and used them they still found a way to forgive him and welcome him in loving arms. He had spent most of the last few days having fun and getting to know them, which is great, but he wanted to have some alone time. He was just about to close his eyes when a voice called from below

"RJ, did you here that?" sounded the voice from below. RJ gritted his teeth and looked down to see Tiger, who had also recently been introduced to the family, looking up at was a large Persian cat . He had a soft Russian accent and gentle way about him, although he had a short temper when it came to some things. "Hear what Tiger?"

The cat looked around "Perhaps it was just me, but I swear I heard someone say 'help'".

RJ rolled his eyes and jumped down from the branch and landed softly on the ground "Well if it will get you to let me relax. Fine."

As they started to walk Tiger said "Well RJ I'm sorry that I'm interrupting your sleep but I thought that if something did happened you would be best equipped to handle it."

"Well then I'm sorry, I just don't like being bothered in my alone time."

Tiger took a quick glance at RJ and said "No problem."

RJ crossed his arms and asked "So where did you hear this noi-" said RJ before he froze.

"What?" Tiger turned his head to see what RJ was looking at. "Oh..."

It was a small fox, laying unconscious on the ground with stains of blood around it.

"Holy crap!" gasped Tiger as RJ approached the fox and checked for a pulse. " Is he..?" worried the cat."

RJ stood up "No, but he's banged up. We should bring him back to the log. If we don't get him warmed up he could get sick."

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The next morning

"RJ, Tiger, what the heck were you thinking?" asked the turtle, Verne, in pure amazement that RJ and Tiger had bought some unknown guy into their log to rest. Verne was constantly worried about everything that he wasn't expecting. It wasn't that he was mad, he just loved his little forest family and didn't want anything to happen to them.

"Look Verno," said RJ " He was just laying there, and he's obviously not an adult yet. What harm could it be to let him rest in the log?"

Verne shut his eyes in frustration and stroked his forehead, "RJ, he could have eaten someone."

"Now wait Verne," said Tiger, slightly nervous, " I'm sorry that we didn't ask you about this first but-" Verne leered a Tiger in an angry manner, silencing him instantly. Verne knew that Tiger was desperate to fit into the family so one stupid move could ruin it for him.

The turtle crossed his arms and said "I will try to forget this problem if nothing bad happens. I like you two but I just... we just can't go around and let anyone come in with out even talking to them."

"Sorry." said both the mammals in a solemn tone. It was still very early in the morning so only they were awa-

"EEEEEEEEEE!" screeched a distinctively young female voice.

"What the hell was that?" question RJ after recovering from the sudden outburst.

"What is that?" said an adult male voice.

"OOO its a doggy can ... can I pet him, please?!" yelled a hyperactive voice.

"Okay ,okay no one say anything else... it's still asleep, just everyone carefully walk out the log." said a strong female voice.

Soon a female skunk, 2 opossums one male one female, a squirrel, and 5 porcupines 2 adults and 3 children.

"Say there, Verne would you know why there's a fox in the log?" Asked the male adult porcupine, Lou

"Yeah, I mean like, what the heck?" said the awkward teenage female opossum, Heather.

Heather's father, Ozzie, wrapped his arms around his daughter "Yeah, what is going on?" asked the opossum.

Verne looked at Tiger and RJ and said "Maybe you should, you know, explain."

Stella, the skunk, walked up to Tiger, whom she was dating. "What is Verne talking about Tiger?"

"Um.. eh... well, RJ and I found a fox... a young one, perhaps Heather's age..." gulped the nervous cat.

RJ saw this and stepped in "We saw that he had some injuries so we bought him back."

That was when Stella's strong side kicked in. She looked at Tiger "What the heck were you thinking, something bad could have happened. What would you do if someone got hurt?"

Tiger was trembling "I-I don't kn-"

"No, you don't know. I like you but sometime you just don't think." Stella finished his sentence before turning her attention towards RJ.

'_Oh crap."_thought RJ as she turned to him. But before she could say anything Verne interrupted "Wait, yelling won't accomplish anything Stella."

Stella signed "Yeah, your right." she looked at the log with the resting fox in it, "we have other things to bother with now."

"Oh yeah I forgot about the doggy, Verne what are we going to do with him. Can we keep him. PLEASE?" spoke Hammy the squirrel.

Verne tried to control his aggravation at the squirrel "I don't think so Hammy."

"Awwww."

* * *

_'What the....'_

_Bu-Bump Bu-Bump_

_'What's going on?'_

_Bu-Bump Bu-Bump_

_'What is that sound?'_

_Bu-Bump Bu-Bump_

_'My... my heart'_

_Suddenly Jace woke up in a field in the middle of the day._

_"Hey Jace!" cried out a familiar voice, "bet you can't catch me!" Jace turned to see Emily, his sister. He smiled, it was like he was a kit again. He rememberded the summers that he and his siblings would chase each other through this field. He ran after them in pure enjoyment. After a few minutes of play he heard another cry, his mother._

_"Come on kids, time to eat!"_

_Jace nearly sobbed when he saw her, she was the perfect example of a vixen. She had deep brown eyes, a coat full of luster, a long bushy tail and an elegant stance._

_"Mom!" Jace yelled as he started to run at her. But when he started to run at her the ground started to sink beneath him. "Mom...Help me!" he yelled as he sunk deeper in the ground. "Mom please help me!" Jace was sobbing now. Finally he could no longer see her and everything started to fade to black again._

_'Mom!'_

_'Mom'_

_'...help.'_

Jace opened his eyes and he was laying in a log with leaves at the bottom to make it more comfortable. He could hear voices coming from outside.

"I say we kick him out, he's to dangerous." one male voice said.

"How do we know that he's bad?" replied another male voice.

"I just worried about the kids." said a female voice.

"Aw mom, we're fine."

"Yeah."

"Stop babying us." quickly replied the 3 young male voices.

It was then that Jace knew it was time to show himself and see who was talking about him. He stood up inside of the log and walked to the exit of the log ready for anything that may happen.

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I very impressed with the way that I handled this. I mean I just picked a random topic and stuck with it. Future chapters will be longer.

PS. If you read my last story, this is not the same Jace that was in Twisted. This one has a different back story but the same personality.


	2. Chapter 2:The new addition

Alright here we go Chapter 2

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Jace signed _'Alright Jace you can do this'_he mentally reassured himself. He finally stepped out, he had to thank whoever saved him. They were still bickering among themselves. Before he could say anything a loud voice gave him away.

"Hey look, the doggy woke up!" blurted all of the talking animals looked at him, which allowed Jace to see what they were. There was a female skunk that seemed to have a sassy way about her, an adult male opossum that looked like the father of the younger female opossum next to him, and a family of porcupines. A male turtle with a fearful expression his face. Next to the turtle was a young adult male raccoon that had his arms crossed and a overweight cat that was awkwardly looking around. And of course the squirrel. All of them stood there awkwardly glaring each other.

"So..." said RJ breaking the silence "How are you? Did you sleep well?"

The fox nodded and said "Oh yeah thank you for that, I had just came down into the valley and was trying find food."

There was another period of silence before Verne said "Well... um wait, whats your name?"

"Oh, it's Jace." answered the canine.

"That's a weird name." spoke Spike, one of the porcupine children.

"Yeah Jace, it's been great meeting you but we have something to do and I would feel better if you got back to your family safely." said Verne feigning concern.

The moment Verne said that Jace replied "Yeah I-I really should g-go. Thank you."

RJ saw that Jace was lying "Wait Jace, let's talk for a second." RJ mostioned away from the crowd.

They walked over to a distant tree and and started to talk. "Jace, I know that your lying."

Jace nochalantly scoffed and rolled his eyes "Why would I lie? I'm fine." Just after he said that his stomach growled.

RJ smirked a little "Your fine huh?"

"Okay fine, I'm a little hungry but I can manage."

RJ crossed his arms and said "You live by yourself?" Jace nodded. "You seem a bit too young to be living by yourself. How old are you?"

" I'm old enough to take care of myself."

" Okay then leave go back to wherever you came from." RJ replied and started to walk away.

Jace then started to think '_What the hell am I doing? I'm starving and I live by the side of a road.' " _Hey wait!" Jace yelled at the raccoon. RJ turned around.

"Yes?" spoke the raccoon

"I'm sorry, I really... really need help."

"With what?"

"I don't know where my life is going. I'm not happy. In fact I'm deppressed. I live alone and the only reason I'm still alive is because of Vincent and-"

"Wait." interrupted RJ "Vincent the bear?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

"Yeah I do, he almost killed me... twice." said the worried raccoon, "Jace, Vincent is bad news."

"Well maybe he is but he's helped me and I can't forget that sir." relpied the small canine.

"My name's RJ."

"Sorry."

"It's okay, if you need to stay I think I can convince Verne."

"Which one in Verne?"

"The turtle, he can be a little paranoid but he's a good guy." RJ replied.

"Thank you, you don't know how much this means to me,"

RJ patted the fox on the back "It's fine, you strike me as a good kid and I hope this works out."

Jace nodded and changed the subject "So how did I get here?''

"Oh, Tiger and I found you unconscious near the hedge.''

"Who's Tiger, and what's a hedge?"

RJ sighed "Tiger is the cat that you saw and the hedge is the wall of bushes that humans make for some reason. So anyway we carried you back to the log and but you near the front, which was a mistake because everyone freaked out."

"Well thank you for that, that could have ended bad."

"Yeah, I'll go talk to Verne, you go and introduce yourself. You seem like a good kid you should fit in."

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"Come on Verne, he's really a good kid!" complained RJ

"I just don't think that he can be trusted, and where would he sleep? The log isn't big enough."

"I don't know, maybe outside, he'll be fine as long as he can stay. I really like this kid Verne."

"RJ my tail has been tingling ever sice I heard about this fox, my tail is never wrong."

"Yeah, sometimes."

"Name one example."

"Me."

Verne furrowed his brow "You don't count, you are different then him."

"In what way Verne?"

"You helped us, you have extensive knowledge about humans and how to live with them. That fox can't even get past the hedge without hurting himself. RJ you are a necessity, that fox-"

"Jace,"

"Yeah Jace, is a liability."

Verne did have a point, no matter which way RJ tried to see past it, Verne was right. Jace was an adolescent, the worst age for any transition. He is a fox so he most likely hunts and they all classified as prey. If Jace was going to stay, he would have to convince the others because Verne had made up his mind.

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"Do you think he's dangerous?"

"I don't know, he may act good but he could be bad."

"Yeah like in Nightmare Guest. They thought he was just a normal guy but he killed all of them."

The exited porcupine triples talked among themselves as the others showed their obvious worry. Well, all of them except Stella.

"You guys are over reacting, seriously, I mean RJ could take him if it came to it."said the skunk.

"I completely agree with you my love, but I still think he's harmless." said Tiger.

"So you don't agree with her... you just said something completely different." said Ozzy.

There was an awkward silence again. Usually this forest family gets along very well but when they are presented with a problem that they have split opinions on they can be very cold to each other.

In the complete silence they could hear foot steppes slowly treading towards then. As Jace approached his mind was racing with ideas of how to make a first impression. He could crack some jokes, but if no one laughed it would be awkward. He could be kind, but then he could come off desperate even though he was. He could act clever and seem to have ideas off how to improve their lives, but they might think he's a smart-ass.

Jace was hoping that they wouldn't notice him but once again they say him coming and put all of their attention towards him.

"Hey guys. Um... thanks for letting me sleep in your log," said Jace pointing to the log "it was very nice of you to let a complete stranger do that"

"Oh it's fine... Jace. Isn't that your name?" said Penny, the mother porcupine.

"Yeah it's Jace. My mother named me Jason but Jace just kind of stuck for her."

"Do you see her much?" asked Ozzie.

"What?" asked Jace

"Your mother , do you see her often." said Ozzy again.

"Oh, um, not so much anymore. I wish I could though she's a wonderful person. Same with my dad." Jace had figured out how to get close to these people. He needs to relate to them. He used his parents to relate to Ozzie, Penny, and Lou. Now he needed to get the cat and the skunk on his side by using his past romantic experiences. Then he could work his attractive charm on the adolescent opossum because, well, he was a very attractive fox.

"Are you two together?" asked Jace pointing at Stella and Tiger.

"Oh yes," said the skunk "Tiger and I are in a trial relationship to see if we can live with each other." Tiger nodded.

"So it's Tiger and Stella, right. I think it's good that you can be together, I personally believe in inter-species relationships."

When Jace said that Heather eyes lit up. She was very attracted to this strange creature. She had never been infatuated with someone else before. In her mind she hopped that he could say.

"Well thank you." said Tiger with a smile. Jace was slowly getting all of them to like him. Now even if that turtle didn't want him to stay the others might stick up for him.

" Oh I almost forgot. What are your names?"

"I'm Heather." quickly said the opossum.

Jace smiled and nodded "Very nice to meet you Ms. Heather." Heather smiled, he had called her Ms.

"Ozzie." said the adult opossum, wrapping his arms around his daughter and glaring at Jace. Jace curtly steeped back, trying to respect him.

"I'm Bucky!" said one porcupine

"My name's Quillo."

"Spike, nice to meet you Mr." followed the 2 other porcupine children.

"Lou" said one of the adult porcupine and motioned to his wife , "This is my wife Penny."

"A pleasue" said Penny smiling.

"I'M HAMMEY!" yelled a overactive squirrel.

Jace forced a smile " Hey"

"Stella." said the female skunk.

"Tiger." said the cat, walking up to shake Jace's paw" a pleasure to meet you."

"Very nice to meet you too, very nice to meet all of you." Jace said looking around. "Oh and before you all get scared I am a vegetarian."

"A what?" pipped Hammy.

Jace smiled "That means I don't eat meat or hunt." Jace then received a few sighs of relief and and some questions.

"But then how do you eat?" asked Bucky

"Have you ever hunted?" Quillo.

"No I have never hunted and I eat fruit berries, and herbs." Jace answered.

"Are you stupid?" asked Spike, which gave him a quick slap by his mother.

"Don't be so impolite." she said

"Oh no it's fine, I know he's just curious. No I'm not stupid. It's just that my parents didn't want their children to be killers."

"That's pretty cool!" said Heather. Jace glanced at her, forcing her to blush through her fur. He was so irresistible, and interesting. She was desperate to get to know him.

"Jace you seem like a good guy," said Lou "I hope you like it here."

Jace blinked "Wait I can stay?!"

"Unless someone has an objection." said Lou looking around. When no one said anything Jace smiled, for the first time in a long time he felt a warm feeling in his chest.

"Wow... thank you all of you. You have no idea how amazing this is." thanked Jace.

"It's no problem." said Tiger patting Jace on the back "We're happy to have you in the family."

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Meanwhile RJ had just about given up on convincing Verne, that turtle was quite stubborn. The only way he would change his mind is if Jace had managed to convince the others that he could be trustworthy.

Verne had always wanted the best for his family, which is why he was always paranoid. Since he first met them he has tried his hardest to keep them out of danger. It's not that he didn't like Jace, that wasn't it at all. He didn't like Tiger either, but he could give to the family. Jace is a teenager that is a predator . At any time he could kill someone.

"RJ I'm sorry but there just is no way that I can allow him to stay. I mean maybe if the others like him-"

The raccoon perked up"So if they like him he can stay?"

"Perhaps, but I doubt that will happen. He's still very dangerous. Besides why do you care about this kid so much, have you ever met him?"

RJ shook his head and replied "No, but he has known Vincent, you know the crazy bear that tried to kill me. This fox lives very close to him and lives of of him-"

Verne nodded "Like you."he said. The tortoise knew where the conversation was going but decided to humour RJ by adding to the conversation .

"Yes." said RJ "One day Jace will be overcome with hunger that he may try to steal some of Vincent's food. If that bear was willing to kill me he'll have no problem killing Jace."

Verne cleared his throat in preparation for what he was about to say "So what your saying is that Jace will do what you did and attempt to steal Vincents food and Vincent will kill him. Your way of preventing this to ignore the fact that we know nothing about this potential killer and just welcome him into our family?"

RJ felt cornered "...Well um, kind of."

Verne sighed, rolled his eyes and said "Yah know RJ, lets just leave this to a vote." before walking towards the log leaving RJ behind to follow him and hope that Jace had made some good first impressions.

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Verne was deep in thought about this Jace issue _'That kid had managed to somehow convince RJ of letting him stay, and he only talked to him for a minute. I can't_ _imagine who he can convince in the time he has been talking to the others._' thought the nervous the thicket of the wood Verne could hear voices.

"So you don't hunt?" asked Quillo.

"No I've already told you, I am a vegetarian."

"Your a fox right?" asked Spike. Jace nodded.

"So then aren't you supposed to be sly or something?"

Jace gave a dry laugh and said "No that's just a stereotype that humans like to promote. Although some of us need to be cunning to survive."

"Why?" eagerly said all of the porcupine children at the same time.

"Well foxes aren't very strong, so sometimes we need to fool people, but we almost never go to far with it."

"Oh, hello." suddenly said Verne in a calm voice.

Jace turned his attention to him "Oh hey, your ... Verne right?"

"Yes." replied Verne without changing his expression. "I thought you were going to leave, was I mistaken?"

"Um well, I perhaps, I think I'm welcome to stay," said Jace "That's what these guys said." Verne peeked over Jace's shoulder and saw his little family nodding. Verne was not the kind of person to go against them, so for now he would give Jace a chance.

"Alright as long as you help out... you can stay." sighed Verne.

Jace then took Verne's hand and shook it thanking him. "Thank you, I'll do whatever you need me to do. I'm not very strong but I can push myself." said Jace.

Verne withdrew his hand "That's nice to know. Now I need to go do a food check so the others can show you around." said the tortoise in the kindest voice he could muster.

Jace could tell that Verne didn't like him, but he magaged smile and wish Verne luck dispite the fact that Verne had ruined his good mood.

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"Now Jace if your going to live here you must understand something, we live off of humans. Okay," said RJ walking around the hedge informing Jace " We take food from the Humans because they took our food sources. Now I think that you can think on your feet, but just to make sure tomorrow night you and I are going to do a little test heist to see if your as smart as you seem." finished the raccoon.

"Yeah okay, I think I can do that." said Jace.

"Good to hear. Alright get yourself acquainted and get comfortable. Get to know the family, your part of it now."

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There we go the end of chapter 2. Next chapter I'll be sure to go into Heather and Jace.


	3. Chapter 3: Getting to know you

Well her we go chapter 3. Sorry it took so long.

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, except Jace.

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In the suburbs there was almost no time for a girl to have time for herself, so when Heather got the chance to sit by the the small body of water, that was in the small wooded area, she snapped up the chance. She would always come there when she had the chance. Since Jace had joined her small group all of then were so intrigued by him, including her. There was never a time in her life where she could have any kind of relationship- a close relationship anyway. This was the first person that was in her age range and with her hormones going crazy over him it was all she could do not to be infatuated. Whether she liked it or not, she wanted to mate with him.

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"So this device is called a.. television?" asked Jace to the triplets. Jace had spent all of his life as far away from humans as possible, mostly in fear, so now that he was living within meters of them he wanted to take advantage of their technologies.

"Yes," answered Quillo.

Jace looked at the device in confusion "What does it do?" said the confused vulpes poking the TV screen.

Spike quickly slapped away Jace's paw "Don't touch the screen. It smudges."

"Okay." said Jace slightly shocked that the small porcupine has slapped him.

Bucky shoved Spike to the side and said "It displays television programs. Like, some are information, others are entertainment, and some are sporting events."

"Thanks Buck," said Jace satisfied that his question had been answered.

Bucky crossed his arms "It's Bucky."

" 'kay, sorry dude."

The small mammal rolled his eyes "Yeah whatever. If there's anything else you need just ask us," Bucky got close up to Jace and pulled his ear down "we know how things are around here."

Jace pulled his ear from the porcupines grasp "Sure" he said unsure if the kid was joking or not. "What if I want a drink."

Quillo picked up a shred of long grass from the ground and placed it in his mouth like a cigarette "What kind of ... drink?" said Quillo as if Jace was talking about something illegal. "We have Coke, Diet Coke, Ginger ale, Sprite, Pepsi-"

"What are those? I mean water." Jace received some confused looks from the triplets "You know. The clear stuff."

"Oh water!" exclaimed Spike "um there's a small freshwater lake over that way." said Spike pointing in a direction.

The fox thanked the triplets and walked over in the direction that they had told him. As he walked through the the small wood he began to look at how much life grew there. The trees were sparse but they grew surprisingly tall. It was as if the humans had decided to leave this area alone, it is quite bizarre that a small community could thrive in the middle of a human settlement.

Soon Jace saw the lake that the triplets were talking about. It was quite small, as they said, with long stalks of grass growing sparsely around it. There were a few insects but nothing to be concerned about.

Jace was so thirsty that he didn't notice Heather sitting by the lake, but she saw him.

Heather blushed "Oh hey."

Jace jumped a jolted a bit when he heard her voice. He put his paw to his chest in surprise and sighed "Whoa, you scared me."

"Sorry..." replied Heather lowering her ears in embarrassment.

"It's fine" said Jace nonchalantly before going for a drink.

Heather suddenly remembered something "Jace!" she blurted as Jace started to drink.

The fox lifted his head "Yeah?"

"I wouldn't drink from that..." said the opossum.

Jace stroked his paw through the fur on his head "Why?"

Heather giggled a bit before saying "Because that's where we, um ... urinate and.." That was all she had to say to but a horrified look on Jace's face.

"Oh my god!" yelled the fox. He started to brush tongue with the back of his paws. Unfortunate for Jace some of his fur stuck to his tongue. As Jace struggled to spit his fur out of his mouth, Heather started to laugh. Once Jace was satisfied that his mouth was void of fur he looked at Heather "You couldn't tell me before?" he said in humor.

"I thought the others would have told you not to drink it!" laughed Heather, barley able to contain herself.

The fox grimaced "I can still taste it..."

Heather got one more good laugh in before saying "There's some soda back in camp."

Jace furrowed his brows, "There's only soda?"

Heather shrugged her shoulders " I don't know? But I'm sure that there is no water."

"Are you kidding me?! Damn it.!" cursed the fox. "Well I'm still just as thirsty... I'll just go back to the log."

"Wait!" cried Heather before Jace could take a step. "There's some brown thing on your face."

Jace's eyes widened "You don't mean..."

Heather instantly knew what Jace was talking about "Oh no, no I mean mud." Heather paced over to Jace and used her paw to steady his face " Like,Hold still." she said in a teenage annoyed voice. Jace did as he was told and the opossum used her other paw to wipe the mud from his face. There was a moment where their eyes met and they both smiled.

"You done?" said Jace after a few seconds.

Heather nodded and let her paws down "Yeah.." said Heather, trying with all of her might not to stare in Jace's grayish green eyes.

"Well I'll be going now? Are you coming?" asked Jace.

Heather wanted so much to say yes, but she felt embarrassed for some reason "No I'm good."

"Okay, see you around." said Jace with a wave before leaving.

"Yeah...okay bye..."sighed Heather, unable to stop looking at Jace as he walked away. There was something about him that Heather just found... unresistible.

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"Hey RJ, where did you get this stuff?" asked Ozzy holding up a glass container that said 'Bud Light' on it "it taste wonderful."

"Yah know..." said the drunk raccoon, leaning on a tree " It makes you feel good..."

Ozzy shook the beer around in his bottle and squinted his eyes "Where ... did ... you ... get ... it?"

RJ sniffed and scratched his nose before saying " I found it in a cooler... across the hedge a few..." RJ looked down at his wrist as if he had a watch" a few hours ago. Ha ago... that's a funny word... A-GO... ha ha."

Only a few paces away Tiger was grooming his sweetheart., Stella. Even though she had only met the cat a few days ago they spoke as if they had been together for years. At this moment Stella was critiquing the 2 drunken mammals.

"Look at those two idiots, they were already slowly losing brain cells, I guess they're eager to lose more brain cells." said Stella, looking at her hand.

Tiger was gently prodding his paws through her hair while also looking at the two "Yes my love, although I have seen those bottles before. They are in human advertisements, with half nude human females dancing around a male human with the bottles in their hands. I believe it is called beer." Stella took a break from admiring her hand to look at Tiger with a surprised look on her face. Without looking down he said "Stella, I did have a life before I met you..." he looked down at her "just not as good." He then kissed her, making her blush. "Oh Tiger..." passionately replied Stella. Tiger was about to round 1st base when he was interrupted by a certain canine that had drank from a lake that could be best described has a crappy lake.

"Hey RJ, Ozzy!" said Jace as he walked to them "I'm sorry to interrupt your..." Jace quickly realised that the 2 were looking unfocused. "Are you guys okay?

They both looked at Jace as if they never seen him before "Huh?" they said simultaneously. RJ sniffed "Oh yeah, Jace, wazzup man."

Jace blinked, "Nothing, except the fact that Spike mislead me into drinking from a lake that had urine and feces in it."

Ozzy paced up to Jace and clapped his hand on Jace's shoulder "Man that sucks raccoon balls"

RJ nodded and looked down "Yeah, It does."

"Yeah, okay just a little bit to much information." said Jace " do you have anything to take the taste out of my mouth?"

Ozzy strained his face, showing that he was putting the last of his sober braincells to good use. "Oh!" he soon exclaimed. He then proceeded to shove the beer in his other hand into Jace's mouth.

The fox winced and coughed the beer out of his mouth "What the hell?!" yelled Jace "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking the taste of piss and shit out of your mouth... did it work foxy?" replied the opossum.

Jace felt around his mouth with his tongue and said "Wow, it worked! What is that stuff?"

RJ guzzled the rest of his beer and said "Magical Elixir."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile Verne had been thinking hard for the last few hours and had finally come to a conclusion. _' I need to talk to the fox... _' Verne started to walk back to the log. As he walked he started to remember the last time his family had been attacked. The memory was still clear in his mind, despite the fact that it had happened years before. Heather was an infant, perhaps 7 weeks old. Back then she still had mother and Ozzy still had wife.

Verne felt a cold jolt going through his body when he thought of the day that Liz died. It was an average day. Heather was hungry, so Ozzy went out to find some berries. When he was out of shouting range Verne heard a loud howl. He, Stella, Penny, Lou, and Liz instantly felt the presence of a predator. There were a few tense moments then things seemed to die down. A single tear rolled out of Verne's eye. Liz had just put her guard down when a coyote lunged at her. It's jaws were firmly around Liz's neck. Heather started to sob when she saw her mother slowly die in the canines maw. Liz twitched a few more time before going limp. She was dead before she could even look at her daughter one last time.

Verne still remembers the look on Ozzy's face when he found out...

That remembering that attack turned Verne's concern for his family into rage towards Jace. Verne continued to walk towards the log. Unlike last time, this time the second he saw Jace he said in the nicest voice he could muster " Jace , can I speak with you?"

Jace, completely unaware of how Verne was feeling. Verne lead Jace to the hedge while avoiding any eye contact.

When the pair got to the hedge Jace asked " Is there anything wrong Verne?"

Verne looked Jace dead in the eyes and said in an ice cold voice " Only my family calls that, you will call me Sir. Understand me fox?"

Jace was surprised and hurt by Verne's sudden burst at him. He looked down at Verne's feet "I-I'm sorry sir..."

Verne continued to glare at the fox. "I don't understand... what did I do wrong?" asked Jace. With every word he said his self esteem dropped.

"You infiltrated my family. We've already been attacked by predators and we don't want anymore. Jace you've managed to fool everyone else, but make no mistake, you will not fool me." said Verne, trying as hard as he could to act strong. " Just don't do anything stupid and you can stay. I don't know why I haven't expressed this concern with the others but ... " Verne didn't know what to say.

Jace had built up enough confidence to look at Verne and say " I realise that my kind would usually prey on you guys, but I'm not like that Verne... I've never had any meat in my life. I guess I can understand your concern and that your only confronting me for your family, and I kind of respect that."

Verne crossed his arms, not understanding why Jace was so excepting. "Well thats good to hear, maybe some day we might get along." said Verne slowly warming up to the adolecent fox. It was so weird. Just seconds ago he was enraged at Jace. He was ready to tear him apart. But now he was calm and happy that he hadn't gone overboard.

"Is that all you wanted Verne?" asked Jace with a bit of worry in his voice.

Verne sighed "Yeah..." Verne realised that the sun was going down "you should get ready for the raid anyway." said Verne.

Jace smiled , he finally felt welcome by Verne. "Alright , I you ever need to talk again just ask me." He waved goodbye and walked away leaving Verne to think about the upcoming raid.


	4. Chapter 4: Heist

I know, I know this chapter is very short. I'm sorry. This will be the last chapter before the conclusion so I wanted to get it out of the way. All the characters except Jace and his parents belong to dreamworks.

* * *

RJ stood vigilant with his night vision goggles, glaring at the targeted house. He smirked, this would be his first heist since he joined the family. The raccoon's dark brown and black fur was perfect for doing nighttime heists. Rj felt at home, he was in his element. The thrill of a heist was one of the best feelings he had ever felt. He looked up at the moon and sighed, it had moved slightly. He put down his goggles on a branched and looked back to the log to see if Jace was still there.

"Hey.." said a voice from below him. He looked down and saw Jace looking up at him, his yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. "I'm here." whispered the fox.

"Nice to see you, can you climb up here?" asked Rj. The moment Rj said that Jace latched his claws to the tree and scaled it like a ladder. He climbed up the the branch that his raccoon mentor was on.

Rj looked at Jace in silent amazement and nodded. "Okay, since this is your first time we won't be taking anything, at least you won't." Jace looked at him with a confused expression. "Your job will be getting us in."

Jace's eyes widened "How am I supposed to do that? I've never done this before."

" The window."

"What?"

" Use the window." with that final word Rj jumped over the hedge and landed safely. He then motioned for Jace to follow him put Jace was already up at the house. '_ How did he move that fast?'_thought Rj. Rj padded over to Jace and pointed to the window. The sleek fox hopped up on the window sill and used his claws to pry it open. Rj gave him a thumbs up and entered to house.

It was a typical suburban house, nicely decorated and quiet. The humans inside were most likely asleep so everything in the house was turned off. Even Jace, with his advanced hearing, couldn't hear anything except the sound of snoring.

"Okay Jace if anyone comes down the stairs tell me, I'll only be a minute." said Rj before he started to walked across the tiled kitchen floor, making an annoying scratching sound. Jace vigilantly watched the top of the stairs foe any signs of movement. At the top of the stairs Jace saw a figure, not human, but still large. Jace soon realised that it was a dog, a golden retriever. The dog was yawning as it walked down the stairs.

"Psst, Rj..." whispered Jace taking advantige of the yawn.

Rj quickly got a box of Twinkies, his favorite snack and called Jace "Alright, lets move." He said it just a bit too loud. The dog looked up at the two animals. "What the..." said the dog.

The two jumped through the window. The dog suddenly realised what he had just seen and started to bark, but it was useless. The two intruders had already escaped and ran through the hedge.

* * *

_Bu-Bump_

_'What?'_

_Bu-Bump_

_'Another... dream?'_

_There was a flash of light and suddenly Jace found himself walking in the forest. There was someone walking with him. He looked over and saw his father. _

_His dad looked down at him and smiled " Bud... do you see that?" said his father in his soft voice. Jace looked forward and saw a family of deer and nodded._

_"They have just as much of a right to live as we do, understand son?"_

_"Yeah."_

_Jace's dad ruffled his son's head fur "Thats my boy. You know I love you right?" _

_Jace but his head on his father's side "Yeah dad, I love you to._

_Then Jace thought he started to cry because everything started fade, but he soon realised that his dream was ending. He held his dad tightly until nothing was there anymore. _

_"Dad..."_

Jace woke up with a heavy heart and a tear flowing from one cheek. He sadly looked up at the sky, but was disappointed when he saw that the moon had decided not to show itself that night. The fox curled back up into a ball and quietly cried, unable to take to image of his father out of his mind.

* * *

"Wake up doggie!" yelled the over excited Hammy into Jace's ear. Jace's slowly opened baggy, sleepy eyes and saw the squirel smiling at him in the corner of his eye. "Hello... Hammy..."

"Hello Jace! How did the job go last night!?" asked Hammy, apparently unable to talk in a calm volume.

Jace closed his eyes again and said "Why don't you just ask RJ?" Jace will soon see that that was the wrong thing to do.

"Well, thats what I tried first. But RJ was asleep and last time I woke him up he got reeeeally angry and yelled at me to not do that anymore. And I like Rj and I don't like making him mad... so instead of asking him, I asked you."

Jace nonchalantly nodded "Okay, we got into the house and Rj stole a box of food" said Jace in a tired tone, still exhausted because he didn't get any sleep.

Hammy started to jump around in excitment "Ooh thats soo cool."

By this time Jace had given up on getting any sleep and stood up "Yeah I guess it is." He looked into the log and saw that no one was there.

"Wow , your just so cool."

This statement make Jace turn around. Hammy had an admiring smile on his face, and his eyes told the fox that the squirrel was truthfull. Then Jace realised something, Rj was awake, Hammy wanted to talk to him. This made Jace smile. "Thanks Hams," Jace started to forget about his dream " I really needed that lift."

* * *

"So ... how did it go?" asked Lou, he Ozzy, and Verne had been nervious about how the little trial robbery had gone the night before. Rj had been holding off telling them on purpose to build up tension. RJ had always liked being the center of attention, but he didn't mind sharing the spotlight with Jace.

Rj leaned back on a tree and said "It went very well. Jace was calm and thought on his feet. A few times he was 2 steps ahead of me... he was incredible, hell, I actually felt old next to him."

"Whoa I guess I underestimated him." said Verne.

"I guess you did, I always thought that he was a good kid." said Tiger eyeing Verne with a confident smile on his face.

Ozzy crossed his arms "What did you take?"

"Just a box of Twinkies... the point is that Jace did excellent" he looked at Verne " and is definitely worth keeping around."

"Yeah yeah yeah, okay , I was wrong. It's not the first time I was." replied Verne " I had a talk with him and he doesn't seem too bad, he seems to be a good kid."

"I told you Verne" said RJ placing his paw on Vernes shoulder "he's nothing to worry about."

* * *


	5. Chapter 5: Defence at the new home

Alright this is the last chapter of this story and I really hope you enjoy it.

* * *

Stalking prey is somethig that takes a lot of waiting. Waiting is something that coyotes don't like to do. They are often reffered to being at the bottom of the totem pole of caninies. This particular one had been waiting to strike his prey for 2 days. He had decided that that morning he would make his move. It had been a few years since he last killed someone from this group of forest animals, a female oppossum.

He smiled and licked his lips, that was the best meal he had ever had. The taste of her blood made his body tingle in delight. His cold heart kept trying to remind him that he had just took the life of a mother and a wife, but the coyote had learned long before how to mute his heart. Unfortunetly for that small group that coyote was returning. And this time he was stronger.

* * *

Jace had been busy talking with hammy when he smelt something. He started to sniff the air.

Hammy looked at Jace with a confused expresstion on his face "What to do smell? Is it a cookie? Oh please let it be a cookie."

"I don't think it's a cookie Hammy." Jace sniffed the air again. The smell of sickening, it wasn't bad smelling, it just smelled like death. Something was comming and Jace wasn't sure how much of a threat it was. The fox felt a cold shiver go through him, something was going to happen.

"Hammy get in a tree."

"What?"

"Hammy I need you to get in a tree, this is very important." repeated Jace in a stronger voice. Hammy could tell that Jace was serious and dashed up the nearest tree.

"HOLY SHIT!!"

Jace jolted at the sudden cry. The cold feling retured to his body, it was Heather. Jace ran towards the yell as fast as his legs could take him constanty reasuring himself that she was fine. Then he saw her. Heather was completly frozen in terror he jaw shaking in fear. Standing over her was a large, fully grown coyote. The predetor had many scars and scratches all over his body. His cold orange eyes seemed to be made of fire. The beast sniffed the air and turned his head to look at Jace "Oh , desert" said the coyote with a toothy grin.

Jace looked at the coyote with complete fear. Fear that he was going to kill Heather, fear that he would harm the others, and fear that the coyote could harm himself.

"Oh my god , Honey!" said Ozzy behind Jace who had just arived with Verne , Tiger, and RJ.

The coyote widended his smile "Oh look, a family gathering."

RJ stepped up "Don't touch her."

The smile vanished from the coyote's face and started to take a few steps towards the raccoon with a scoul on his face. But before he could get to Rj Jace steped in his way.

"I would move if I were you" said the coyote looking Jace up and down "fox"

Jace took in air from his nose and stood his ground, his heart pounding. The coyote laughed "Alright fine," the coyote hunched back " I'll kill you first" and with that he dived at the fox and sunk his teeth into his left arm. Jace whined in pain hit his attacker in the snout with his free arm. The coyote stumbled back and licked his chops, enjoying the tasteof live blood. Jace tried to put some weight on his injured limp but it was hopeless.

"Aw , did I hurt the widdle foxy." laughed the coyote. Jace felt an anger build up inside of him. A sudden rush of adrenilene gave him the energy to lunge at the coyote, but it was futile. The stronger canine used his two front paws and pinned down the fox.

The coyote looked up at the terifyed racoon "Get ready, your ne-" But before he could finish what he was saying Jace jolted his head up and bit into the coyote's tought. He quickly lossened his grip and let the fataly wounded coyote stagger off of him. Thick red blood flowed from the many holes in his throat. The coyote looked at Jace with wide eyes, he knew that he was going to die. Complety disorentated the coyoted ran off in a random direction, only thing was is that the direction he ran in was through the hedge. Once on the other side he collaped, twitched a few times and died.

Jace had just realised what he had just done, he had just taken a life. He felt the strong taste of blood in his mouth. Tears started to roll down his cheeks. Jace layed on the grass, breathing hard, how would he live with what he just did.

* * *

1 Month later

Jace was sitting at the lake stareng out at the still water and he rememered back when he first saw the lake and that he accually drank from the water. He closed his eyes and laughed _" I can't beileve how stupid that was."_

He heard footsteps comming from behind his and felt someone rub up on him. He smiled and licked his mistress' neck. She laughed and put her head on his chest, she had never thought that she would get this close to the stanger that had just joined her family a month ago.

"Love you Jace" she said enjoying his warmth.

Jace placed his head on her's "I love you too Heather."

* * *

Well there we go I really like how this turned out. I allready have another story concept so expect a new story very soon. Later on I might even make a sequel to this. I really want to thank Kat, her review really helpped boost my energy so thank you.

Heckfan out


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